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Clenon
Clenon is a domain of the Imperial Commonwealth, one of the three domains of the Narikatonite Empire, and one of the five traditional Darnussian provinces. Compared to the northern province of Nihaton, Clenon is more populous but less urbanized. History The Island of Shirmania was first populated by the migratory proto-Jewish settlers on their way through Migrant's Pass. They were followed by a wave of proto-Kozari (and possibly other) peoples from the mainland. Unlike neighboring Narikaton, the aboriginal Jewish culture had taken stronger root, and the new migrants from the mainland adapted to the existing civilization, rather than overwhelming it. Early Shirmanians, like their Nariki neighbors, were prolific sailors and traders, forming trade ties with each other and neighboring peoples. Ultimately, this led to an in-migration of Narikis, and the Narik language with it, as the two islands became culturally more interdependent. Pre-Unification States While city-states had formed in Shirmania in antiquity, there were relatively few wars, as land and resources were considered plentiful by the people - so much so that immigration from other lands was welcomed as a source of cheap labor. This lack of warfare between neighboring cities, combined with the island's wealth, ultimately made the region a target for aggression from outside, including early Bailonese pirates, Svrin navies, and enterprising Narikis. Several of the stronger city-states formed what could be termed the first government for the entire island, the Shirmania Defensive League, circa 550, in an attempt to stem the damages from the foreign raids and sackings. Still, the alliance was quite weak, and coastal cities made a habit of hiding wealth far inland on a regular basis, unable to adequately defend themselves by force of arms alone. Ultimately, most of the city-states had to pledge fealty, and tribute, to strong Nariki states, in an effort to protect themselves from others. The Unification In the mid 700s, war broke out on Narikaton, as several of the strongest city states launched all-out war on one-another. Ultimately, King Darntus I emerged victorious, and unified Narikaton for the first time. By doing so, he had also effectively unified Shirmania, as nearly all of the cities had pledged tribute to one or another of the Nariki belligerents. Only one battle during this war emerged on Narikaton, but it was a fateful one, between the House of Raux and the House of Windwick, as Raux attempted but failed to seize Windwick's protectorate of Podrueja, in modern Clenon. After Raux' failure, it was forced to capitulate to the House of Af Ehjnhelm, as allies of Darntus. Had Raux won, it may well have been able to resist Af Ehjnhelm, and (ultimately and ironically) unite with the Windwicks to block Darntus' rise. With Narikaton and Shirmania secured under his reign, Darntus I turned his eyes to the mainland, and the Kozarians. He was victorious there as well, thus unifying what would become Darnussia for the first time. Clenon as part of the Duchy of Shirmania Initially, Darntus I divided his realm into four parts, with modern Clenon and Nihaton combined as the Duchy of Shirmania. The Duke of Shirmania, in a further irony, came from the House of Raux; Wynmer de Raux, the losing commander in the battle of Podrueja, became the Duke of Shirmania after the war; mainly because he had proven a loyal and competent commander in Kozaria. With centralized rule, military technology flowed in from Narikaton, while exotic materials came from the mainland. Shirmania's resourceful land and resourceful population grew in numbers and in power rapidly. Independent Duchy of Clenon By the 1300s, Darnussia was in jeopardy of civil warfare, as the mainland provinces had united by blood, and Shirmania was threatening to become more powerful than Narikaton, which had always dominated the nation. The solution from Narikaton was to subdivide the realms, to ensure Narikaton was the greatest of the five, rather than merely a co-equal third. While Kozaria and Alkavon were re-divided largely along their historic border, Shirmania had to be divided despite having no historical or traditional boundary to use. Ultimately, the decision was made in Merenbürg to split the people from the resources; the grand cities of the north, with their trade ports and guilds would become Nihaton. The southern and central portions of the island, which included the rich mines and fertile soils of the southern shield, would become Clenon, named for the King's second son, Cletus, who also became the new realm's Duke. The side effect of this decision was to entrench a reality on the ground; that the northern portion of Shirmania was far more Catholic, and the southern portion, while majority Catholic as well, still had a strong Jewish minority. Clenon was also the primary immigration point for Jews from Beiteynu, who brought with them the more modern incarnation of Judiasm, rather than the Narikaton variant which still had a strong admixture of Kozarian Pagan influence. Province of Clenon As Darnussia transitioned from monarchy to democracy, Clenon was the site and instigator of much of the initial Republican spirit and reforms, seeing the new political structure as one in which capitalism and individual entrepreneurship could replace nobility as the measure of an individual. As Clenon was the nation's most entrepreneurial region, a shift towards plutocratic ideals would strongly benefit the province. Throughout the First Republic, Clenon asserted itself as the most prosperous of Darnussia's Provinces. It was often said that, while the Factories were in Kozaria and Alkanon, the CEOs and the Banks were in Clenon. Occupied Clenon The rise of Lusitania, followed by the Deltarian invasion, marked a turbulent century for Clenon, and the rest of Darnussia. The economic downturn in 2251, which had its genesis in the Podrueja Stock Market Scandal, ultimately led to a series of events which propelled Dom Duarte II to the throne, and made Clenon destitute for the first time in over a millennium. When the Deltarians overthrew the Lusitanian government, things got worse for Clenon, as Clenese were preferred slaves to the new masters. The Dark Century, as it came to be known, finally ended with the withdrawal of Deltarian forces in 2351, but not before retreating soldiers had looted everything of value. State of Clenon The restored State of Clenon in 2351 was demographically a far cry from the Province of Clenon in 2251. With much of the Jewish population forcibly moved all over Darnussia, and an influx of Alkavanian laborers, the state was more Christian. With the economic collapse and century of struggle, the state was poorer, and less educated, than it had been. Still, many expatriated Clenese made their way back to their homeland to rebuild, rather than remain where they had been forced to move, and the Jewish character of Clenon was at least somewhat restored. The four year reign of the Hobrazian self-proclaimed Empress Julia brought another change to Clenon. Initially, both Christians and Jews were united in their disgust for the "cult" of Hobraism, and upon the restoration of Darnussian rule passed laws which effectively made being a Hobraist illegal, and punishable by public ridicule or even exile. Increasingly, the Jews began to dissent from these laws, and actively protected Hobraists from the harsher of these reactions. Being a religious minority themselves, the Jews may have felt some kinship with them, despite the radically different belief systems. This tendency sparked some anti-Jew resentment amongst the Christian population, who began to see the Jews as collaborators in the Hobraist attempted takeover. The following century leading up to the civil war saw Clenon, as well as Narikaton, rebuild the wealth and power that they had held prior to the 2250s. Increasingly, well-educated Nariks and Clenese dominated the higher levels of government and industry, and a Narik-Clenon alliance of sorts began to dominate Darnussian politics in the Second Republic. Civil War and the Deimore Incident When the mainland government change the national motto to a phrase in the Darnus language, rather than the traditional Narik spoken on the islands and by the elites, a nationalistic fervor swept the islands. This led ultimately to Narikaton's succession from the Republic, and civil warfare between the Narik speakers of Narikaton and Shirmania, and the Darnus speaking mainlanders. Anton, the generally recognized claimant to the former Darnussian throne, was proclaimed Emperor of the Imperia Narikaton. Clenon and Nihaton both voted in special session to join the Emperor against the mainland, after it became clear that most of the military backed the new Emperor. Shirmania was largely spared during the war, with the mainland government concentrating on decapitation strikes on Narikaton's major cities. Ultimately, Doressa was bombed (conventionally) and the war ended with a nominal Narikaton victory, although the new Emperess Antoinette accepted some democratic oversight over his new government, largely on private pressure from Shirmanians who feared the economic consequences of despotism. Despite these fears, ultimately Claude Deimore became the dictator of Darnussia, taking over the weakened democratic institutions and forcing the Empress to capitulate. His reign of terror lasted approximately a decade. Deimore became increasingly paranoid that the Clenese, particularly the Jewish Clenese, were behind the failures of his rule, and ultimately ordered what became known as the Deimore Incident - the systematic nuclear bombing of parts of Shirmania. Reconstruction After the Deimore Incident, much of Clenon was a nuclear wasteland, with survivors overflowing Red Cross camps and clamoring for evacuation, while Alkavon and Narikaton squabbled over where the new capital city would be. Despite a generous amount of Kozarian aid, many Clenese died, and many more were permanently disabled. The new government of the Third Republic ultimately began rebuilding efforts on an unprecedented scale, with the goal of making Shirmania safe to live on within a century. The stated goal was to remove the top twelve inches of soil from the entire "hot-zone." Much of the former Trans-Shirmania Highway was converted to a high capacity maglev rail system, which carried tons of irradiated soil and rubble daily to be disposed of at the new ports, which carried the radioactive material out to be slowly dispersed into the sea, or were carried up to the dormant volcano of Mount Shirmania, to be injected into the magma of Terra itself. Both strategies were intended to dilute the radioactive residues down to the level of the natural background radiation of Terra, and were developed from knowledge obtained from the earlier nuclear attacks on Red Stad in Kozaria. Today, most of Shirmania is safe, with radiation levels only slightly higher than the average location on Terra. Many of the cities have been rebuilt, and much of the population has returned, although most of the history was lost. Geography Clenon occupies the southern two-thirds of Shirmania. Originally its boundaries were marked by a forest line to the east and west, which has long since been harvested, and a mountain path which is no longer in use linking the forests. Geographically, a division along the Moete and Dinsk Rivers would have made more sense, but the division of the island was solely done for political reasons at the time, circa 1300 CE. Clenon contains the highest mountains in Darnussia, including Mount Shirmania, the nation's only known volcano. The last eruption of Mount Shirmania is estimated to have occurred in 8000 BCE. Most of Clenon's population centers are along the Dinsk, Podrueja, and Brejan rivers, after which the largest towns on those rivers are named. The Dinsk and Brejan river valleys hold nearly half the population. Clenon is located on the drier half of Shirmania, making the region heavily dependent on the two main rivers. Map of Clenon The map shows the major cities and transportation systems of Shirmania. The yellow line marks the Trans-Shirmania Highway, from Altrae in Clenon, via Moete in Nihaton, and back to Podrueja in Clenon before its terminus in Holljas. The roadway has been rebuilt with a maglev rail system running through its median. The orange line marks the now-disused Brejan Spur from the maglev line, used to bring radioactive materials for destruction at Mount Shirmania. The violet line indicates the proposed Shirmania Peace Tunnel, to link the maglev/highway system of Shirmania to Narikaton. If successful, an even more ambitious project to link Moete to Alkavon is proposed. The red dots indicate cities. The black circles indicates sites hit during the Deimore Incident. Cities of Clenon # Podrueja # Dinsk # Brejan # Altrae # Holljas Transportation in Clenon Clenon, like Nihaton, is linked by the Trans-Shirmania Highway and Maglev Rail system. The roadway is marked simply as "Route 1" throughout both States, without reference to State identity. Lesser Clenon highways are prefixed with the letter "C." Category:Darnussia